Top 10 Video Game Villains
This is a basic recipe for any type of fantasy story. Wherever there's a hero that can save the day, there's a villain that wants to either challenge the hero or have plans for the world. Here is JohnnyOTGS' list of villains in Video Games. 10. Shang Tsung This 1,000 year old being has origins that are still to this day. He was found by the Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn who taught him in the ways of not only martial arts but the ability to consume the soul of any who would challenge him. He would eventually be the Grandmaster of a violent tournament known as Mortal Kombat in Earthrealm. Though he would lose the 10th Mortal Kombat to Shaolin Monk Liu Kang. He would fight against the Earthrealm warriors in Outworld, but would soon develop an ulterior motive and that is to seek power for himself if his loyalty to Shao Kahn ever strayed. But Shang Tsung would finally have his revenge with the help of Quan Chi against Liu Kang while reviving the lost army of Onaga. Shang Tsung has many powerful abilities, one of them is that he can assume the identities of other people (mainly other fighters), he can also use their fighting skills against his oppoents. Shang Tsung also has the ability to consume the souls of his opponents if Shang Tsung were to defeat them, which adds to Shang Tsung's youth, health and strength. Though, Shang Tsung's drawback is that he had a missed appearence in Mortal Kombat 4, so the evil scorcerer makes it to only number 10. 9. Sephiroth A former member of the organization: SOLDIER, Sephiroth used to be one of the toughest of that organization. Though during his last mission, he was grooming a successor named Cloud Strife but Sephiroth would then become power hungry and left the organization. Then, as Cloud joins another arganization named AVALANCHE, Sephiroth seeks powerful jewels called "Materia". As he meets Cloud once again, he was with Aeris Gainsborogh who was killed by Sephiroth and took the Materia that Aeris had. Eventually Sephiroth would use the black Materia to send a huge meteor on a collision course with the world. He would also use the Materia magic against Cloud and his friends, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to stop Cloud who would ultimately defeat Sephiroth in a dynamic display of sword skills. Nevertheless, Sephiroth will be remembered for all time as beign one of the meanest, dirtiest and most hardcore villains of the first 3-D game generation. 8. Geese Howard The main antagonist of the Fatal Fury games is also seen as one of the more iconic villains of SNK/Playmore fighting games. A brutal fighter that spares no fighter he fights against and it has been said that he has killed a fighter named Jeff Bogard in a tournament, which is the motivation for Terry and Andy Bogard to seek revenge against him. He would eventually lose to Terry and fall to his death...or did he? Somehow he survived his fall and would compete in the King of Fighters tournament now led by his half brother: Wolfgang Krauser von Stroheim. Though he would find the ancient scrolls, but couldn't figure them out as he would be once again defeated by Terry Bogard and fall to his death. Unlike most villains, Geese Howard doesn't have any plans to conquer the world. Instead, he just uses mass brutality and shows no mercy when he fights (this trait would be used with other villains in the SNK/Playmore universe including Krauser) his Violent Wave and Raising Storm special moves clearly shows why he's a brutal fighter. Forward Though, Geese Howard may have honor and cheated death, but this next villain is known to cheat death multiple times. 7. M.Bison Ever since his debut in Street Fighter 2, M.Bison has been the face of evil in not only the Street Fighter franchise, but in all of the tournament fighting game genre. He began sponsoring the Street Fighter tournament ever since his initial plans for world domination were halted. He even desires Ryu as he wants to use his body. Though not officially confirmed, it is said that he challenged Ken Masters (alongside Ryu) as he won the initial tournament, but it was Akuma that would finish him off in the end...or so it seemed. Bison persistantly comes up with contigency plans just in case if his initial plans don't go accordingly as he had a huge body project known as BLEECE as he would use a body just incase his current body would die. Bison uses his un-natural Psycho power to brutally defeat his opponent, though the only drawback is that it's fueled by negative human emotions so if there's a lot of possitive emotions he becomes weak. So, this is why Bison is only at number 7 on the list. 6. Shao Kahn Ed Boon and John Tobias did something very surprising for Mortal Kombat fans, perhaps Shang Tsung wasn't really a leader, he served somebody that was far more sinsiter than the scorcerer himself. This is Shao Kahn, the emperor of Outworld who desires to not just take over the world, but all of existance, and when doing this conventionally (thourgh Mortal Kombat) wouldn't work for him (as he was also defeated by Liu Kang) he would go as far as breaking the sacred rules of Mortal Kombat to invade the long desired Earthrealm. His fighting skills are just as much brutal as his command, he uses not only hard punches and kicks but he also uses energy balls or tridents and has a humongous sledgehammer that can cause massive damage. So confident in his skills that he even would taunt his opponents while fighting which would be more or less his weakness. So he's at number 6. Forward Just to show that the villain role is not just a "manly profession", the next villain is a she. I had a very hard time picking out who since there isn't many. But I picked out the most unusual villainess. 5. Dahlia Hawthorne Ms. Hawthrone is basically the epitome of "looks can be deceiving". Her murdering career began after she witnessed the murder of her father. She would even stage a fake kidnapping that would land hapless Terry Fawles in prison (and poisoned him when his usefulness has been used up). Her seemingly pretty appearence also landed her many boyfriends (including Phoenix Wright). Though her seemingly innocent apperence would soon be tested as she would stand trial when Phoenix was accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend Doug Swallow. Fortunately, Mia had found her guilty and was executed soon thereafter. But Dahlia has shown that she can commit her crimes beyond death. She would inhabit the body of Maya Fey and pose as her long, lost twin sister Iris. Eventhough she would soon drift away as like another spirit, but Dahlia has shown that women can be just as sinister as the guys and deserves her place on this list. 4. Akuma Now, M.Bison looked to be out of place to be Ryu's arch-nemesis. So, why not give him one that relate to him. This is where Akuma comes in. The propsed murderer of his brother Gouken, he uses a mysterious but dangerous form of evil energy which is known as the "Satsui No Hado". Though he would fight such opponents like Gen, M.Bison and others, but Akuma desires more than anything is a death match with Ryu (when if ever he suucumbs to the Satsui No Hado). Unlike most villains who give in to evil powers, he trains to control the evil powers within him, so he represents the saying "Why be a servant to an evil power when you can be it's master?" Like Geese Howard and other SNK villains, Akuma also fights with no mercy and extreme brutality and will kill his opponent if necessary. 3. Ganon/Ganondorf Either he's a Blue Colored Warthog creature or a man, Ganon (or Ganondorf) will always have the intention of obtaining the hyrulian relic known as the Triforce so he can proceed to ruling Hyrule the way he desires. He possess wicked trident and sword skills and is not afraid to use them in battle. Though, his only major weakness is that no matter what he does (either it be a trident, a sword or even the Triforce itself) he can't overcome Link's eternal determination. But like most Video Game villains, Ganon has a very nasty habit of not staying defeated for very long, he somehow returns and continues his ambition for dominating Hyrule. Eventhough his motive remains constant, but he just falls short of the number 1 spot on this list. Forward The number 1 spot on this list is not 1 but 2 villains that are really persistant and have one motive in their ambitions, not to mention that they're some of the most memorable villains of all time. 1. (Tie) Bowser Koopa & Dr. Wily Bowser Koopa is undoubtedly one of the most famous villains in the world of gaming as he's the most infamous arch-nemesis to everybody's favorite plumber: Mario. Bowser's real desire is to kidnap the kind and loving ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom: Princess Peach Toadstool. Though his forces don't intimidate Mario (Luigi maybe). But what is his trump card is his family (the Kooplings or Bowser Jr.). But when Bowser eventually faces Mario, he either gets hit by several Fire Flower Fireballs or falls into a pool of lava when Mario destroys the bridge they were on. But Bowser is very persistant as he is and his mind is only on one thing. Though, Bowser had no other choice but to team up with Mario and Peach in one adventure, but Bowser is still the main antagonist in the Mario games. Dr. Albert Wily used to be an assistant of Dr. Thomas Light until he became jealous of him and stole his Robot Masters to conquer the world. Of course Light made an attempt to counter Wily by transforming one of assisant robots Rock into Megaman. Though, Megaman would eventually defeat the mad robot scientist, but Wily wasn't about to throw in the towel just yet as he created 8 of his own Robot Masters to act revenge, Wily even helped create the peace robot Gamma (and then steal it in hopes to conquer the world), he went as far as framing Protoman by kidnapping Dr. Light himself as well as hosting a tournament of his own Robot Masters (under the guise of Mr. X). He would also frame Dr. Light and even create a robot virus. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when mentioning Wily's rap sheet. He has also proven that even when he's long gone he continues to cause problems and a rift between humans and robots as he creates Zero and the Maverick virus. It is without a doubt that both Bowser and Dr. Wily are very persistant, no other villain comes close.